MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A Turkish Airlines plane carrying hundreds of passengers landed at Adan Adde Airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu on Saturday, a day after it had been refused to land.
Somalia’s former spy chief Fahad Yasin has not been onboard the flight after Somali aviation authorities ordered airlines not to bring him to Mogadishu over alleged mobilization of forces against the government and compromise of airport security.
On Friday, dozens of heavily forces troops loyal to the current acting president entered the airport, triggering fear of clashes with forces allied with the Prime Minister shortly after plane carrying Fahad Yasin took off from Istanbul, before it was later rerouted to Djibouti due to security fears.
Somali President’s spokesman accused Djibouti of detaining the embattled former spy boss, though authorities in the tiny Horn of Africa nation described the allegation as “fake news”.
The plane returned all of its passengers, among them Yasin, to Istanbul and Turkish Airlines barred him from boarding another flight to Mogadishu on Saturday, citing government order banning him from entering the country.
Wrangling between Somali President and his Prime Minister escalated last week, nominally over the murder of a female spy and exchanged a number of statements, accusing each other of violations against the constitution and separation of powers within government institutions.
Yasin was expected to attend an important meeting called by the President last week to brief the National Security Council about the disappearance of Ikran Tahlil. The young female intelligence agent’s family earlier filed a case against him and three of his close associates, alleging that they had carried out Ikran’s murder.
It is yet unclear if Fahad would be able to arrive in Mogadishu on Saturday, but there are reports that he is planning to take a charter flight from Turkey to reach the Somali capital and not miss a meeting with the President.
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